I never posted the photos I took from our trip to NY for President’s Day weekend, but I thought these photos that I captured while upstate definitely fit this month’s theme of how I view “happiness” :) Or rather, how BEN views happiness :) He LOVES the snow (well, he does now that he can stand and run in it without falling over), and we managed to find a bit to play with despite the warmer weather they had early like we did. His happiness is infectious, and we are so lucky to have such a happy kid. He has always been a happy baby, and not counting his typical toddler moodiness, he makes us laugh a LOT:

Playing with his grandparents and Daddy while on vacation is definitely up there in his top things he gets super happy about ;)

I knew this week would be tough, for getting this week’s theme of “catchlights”, having eye contact usually helps. Catchlights are the lights that you “catch” in the eyes of your subject. And Ben is still pretty anti-camera, so I had to settle for capturing them while he was distracted ;) He’s growing up so fast!

I’m still hanging in there with the “52 week challenge” and I actually LOVE challenging myself to do something new each week. Next year, even if I don’t do a “challenge” I’ll still aim for finding different subjects each week!

I’ve been brainstorming all week for this week’s “white” theme… and then I decided to try and capture it during my trek down to the cherry blossoms this morning. Even though it called for rain all week, I kept hoping that miraculously I’d get a few dry hours in the morning. And I woke up to NO RAIN!! :) I rushed down to the Tidal Basin, and even though the rain had knocked out the majority of the trees, I still found a few blooming :)

I’ll dedicate another post to the cherry blossom photos, I’m really REALLY happy with how they came out, murky skies and all. I have some serious lens envy now, too, after using the wide angle lens and getting such great results. I’m going to be so sad to give it back!

It’s been in the high 70’s (even low 80’s!) this week, and with daylight savings time giving us an extra hour of daylight at night, we finally got a chance to spend some time outside :) Perfect time for this week’s “motion” theme:

And then Ben had some fun breaking in his old sandbox and I captured some motion “outtakes”:

I had a fun meetup yesterday with a group of girls from ClickinMoms, and we met up at the nearby Oxon Hills Farm. I’ll post another update with all my photos from there, but this one was appropriate for this weeks “round” theme :)

I had a few tractor wheels, but the sun was so high and the shadows so harsh, they really didn’t come out that well. But I had fun with sun flares! I need to invest in a lens hood!

This morning we were all cooped up due to the rain, but after Ben’s nap, the sun came out and we decided to venture out of the house. We hopped on metro (Ben of course LOVED the train ride!!) and decided to hop off at the Navy Yard to visit the new park. We walked down to the bridge, and I saw the perfect inspiration for this week’s theme “leading lines”. Leading lines are lines through a photograph that either draw your attention to a subject, or pull you through a photograph, or out of the image.

And of course, a few others that I thought fit the theme :)

And believe it or not, I purposely left my main camera at home, not wanting to lug it around today, and cursed myself for not bringing it when we got to the park, and saw the beautiful sunset. So these were all taken with my iPhone! LOVE my phone! :)

February’s photo theme was “sweentess and love”. I had ideas for cute photos of Ben and Lily, sweet Ben looking cute, and lots of creative props. Only, when I went to use those props, I was thwarted by a willful toddler who I forget wants NOTHING to do with the camera. *sigh*

So, I had to cheat, and use a photo that I already posted with my weekend update. My “sweetness” is my favorite pie, baked by my husband’s grandmother (lemon meringue pie):

And my “love” is of course, Ben. This was taken ad hoc one night, during one of our “play” sessions that we have after dinner. Ben loves to put on fireman hats, and we both run around the house putting out fires. He is all about the camera when he can see himself, so I used the front facing camera on my phone to snap this one, and he hammed it up for me :)

So, technically, I wasn’t practicing with my “real” camera… but it’s a photo in the theme ;) I’m going to make a concerted effort to think of an idea to execute beforehand for March’s theme. My biggest problem is that I’m a “pray and spray” shooter. I take photos with whatever the situation throws at me, and hope I got a few good moments. Which, I know is how “lifestyle” photographer tend to shoot (not spray and pray, but not with pre-planned ideas in mind)… and really, I think I lean more towards enjoying “journalistic” style photographs that tell a story about the events going on around me. I rarely think of an idea for a photo and then try to recreate it. So that’s what this challenge is all about for me… trying to reach outside my comfort zone :)

I used to love taking self portraits. Maybe it was the 20-something version of myself… the only responsibilities I had were my animals. No husband, no boyfriend, no children… just me, my camera, and my computer. I was in shape, went out with friends, and tried to fill my days with adventures.

Now, I still fill my days with adventures, but they revolve around my family. I’m not in my mid-20’s anymore, and my body is a little worse for the wear. I fill my nights worrying about how to fix up our house, where my kid is going to school, how we are going to save to help our kid(s) in college some day.

This week’s assignment was “self portrait”. The light kept changing as the sun ducked behind clouds, so it made it tough to keep the exposure correct. My remote also doesn’t focus the camera, just fires the shutter, so my focus was a little bit of luck. But I liked the end result… matched my mood this morning :)

I definitely need to jump in front of the camera more… even despite my not-20-anymore-self. I have very few photos of Ben and I together. My aim going forward this year is to at least ONCE a month get in front of the camera with my family! In focus, bad lighting, bad hair… no matter. At least I’ll know I was there! ;)

Here are the “outtakes” for this week:

And kudos to anyone who recognizes that mug ;) It’s my old “carrie.cc” coffee mug… who else is a dork enough to have their website on a mug (and then pose with it)?? :) Happy Saturday!